Rhythm
by Flower of Paper
Summary: Tomo/Sakaki. Sakaki has an innate sense of rhythm. Tomo is as far removed from rhythm as rhythm can get. Yet somehow, the two coexist.


**Rhythm**  
An Azumanga Daioh _**fanfiction**_ by Flower of Paper

**author's notes**

Summary: Tomo/Sakaki. Sakaki has an innate sense of rhythm. Tomo is as far removed from rhythm as rhythm can get. Yet somehow, the two coexist.

This idea came to me suddenly and wouldn't let go. Neither a crack!fic nor a parody, but an experimental fic. My self-imposed challenge was to take the _least_ likely pairing (in this case, Tomo/Sakaki) and make it at least somewhat plausible.

Hopefully I succeeded in this regard. Please let me know what you think!

**now, the story**

Our story begins at Chichibu Muse Park Music Hall in Chichibu City, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. Tomo and Sakaki, both in their 20s, were among the youngest members of their orchestra. Said orchestra was to perform that evening at the music hall.

"You nervous?" Tomo asked.

"A little. Are you?"

"Me? Nah, no way, I'm not nervous."

"It's okay if you are." Sakaki gave Tomo a hug, which Tomo returned.

"...well, _now_ I'm not." Tomo grinned.

The conductor stepped into the dress room. "Everybody! It's time."

With a nod of understanding to each other, the two ladies stepped out onto the stage, each taking her place at her chosen instrument: Sakaki at the xylophone, Tomo at the trombone.

"Yomi always said I was just blowing hot air when I told her I was gonna be a musician" —Tomo had said once, only half-joking— "And now, I really _am_ blowing air!"

Tomo's wildcat grin upon saying that—she was twenty-one at the time—always made Sakaki smile.

Tomo and Sakaki had changed somewhat after high school. Tomo had calmed down somewhat, presumably thanks to Sakaki's steadying influence, but underneath she was still the same old Tomo. Sakaki, for her part, never lost her trademark diffidence and never would, but she had gained a bit of self-confidence, and had begun to smile more often.

The tap of the conductor's baton snapped Sakaki out of her reverie, and she picked up the lightweight mallets.

Sakaki gracefully tapped out the notes on her xylophone—F, F, F#, F, E...—then was joined by a marimba and two violins before Tomo led the way in the trombone/trumpet section. The piece was underway.

After the concert was over, Sakaki took Tomo out to dinner at a nice restaurant to celebrate, as it was their first major performance _and_ it had gone off without a hitch.

Sakaki began. "You did so well tonight, Tomo-chan. Perhaps music really is your calling."

"Of course!" Tomo gestured dramatically with a breadstick. "An energetic girl like me would put all her energy into an instrument like the trombone! And besides" —more gesturing with the breadstick— "you were pretty good too, all tapping away like nothing else mattered, that was pretty cool."

Sakaki's answer was a simple peach tinge to her cheeks, and a slight change of subject. "You really surprised Yomi-san when you told her you were going into music."

Originally, Tomo had wanted to join Interpol, but changed her mind when she realized that it wasn't quite the career she had in mind, due to all the office work involved.

"She didn't think I could do it!" Tomo grinned. "But here we are, 24 and pursuing careers in music." Her smile faded to a calmer one. "But seriously, I would've dropped out of music school without you, Sakaki-chan."

In a way, Sakaki was the one who had put the idea into Tomo's head, of pouring her boundless energy into music. Sakaki hadn't expected Tomo to take her offhand comment quite so sincerely as Tomo had taken it. But they were _happy_, and isn't that what counts in the end?

"You were so sincere about it, I..." Sakaki paused. "...I couldn't let you give it up."

Their relationship had not yet progressed to the "drop the -chan" stage, or the "move in together" stage, but their ever-changing relationship was indeed moving forward.

"I owe it all to you." Tomo's expression showed a rare moment of seriousness.

"But I've always wondered" —Sakaki began— "why you chose me over Yomi-san. We all thought that, if you even rolled that way, you'd settle down with Yomi-san."

Ever-changing, the wildcat grin was back. "Heh. I love Yomi as a dear friend, and I always will. You know we keep in touch."

Sakaki nodded.

"But even though I'll always think of her dearly, it just wouldn't have worked in the long run."

"Why not?"

"Well..." Tomo paused and thought for a moment about how best to phrase it. Then: "You remember how she got into law school on the third try?"

"Yeah."

"She's gonna be a lawyer. A _lawyer_." Tomo's tone was teasing, but also impressed.

"She'll go far." To Sakaki's ears that sort of thing sounded trite and clichИd, but it was all she could think of.

"That's so conventional, so boring!" A slight pause, then: "A girl like me needs to keep moving, to keep exploring. And that's where you come in, Sakaki-chan. All throughout high school you were so cool and mysterious, I just _had_ to get to know you."

"Mysterious? But...that's not me, not the real me." Sakaki turned pink, remembering her high school years.

"I know that, 'cause I dared to get to know the real you. And look where we are now."

Sakaki nodded. "This...what we have, this is wonderful."

"Wouldn't trade it for anything."

Tomo leaned in for a kiss, and Sakaki gave it to her.

**fin **

Final notes:  
1) Chichibu Muse (also spelled Myuzu) Park Music Hall is a real place, located in Chichibu Muse Park, in the city of Chichibu.  
2) Sakaki's "offhand comment" suggesting that Tomo pursue a career in music has no basis in canon. I created that in order to give this pairing some plausibility.

And I do hope you enjoyed this story! Please let me know what you thought of it.


End file.
